Columbus first-round pick Nikita Filatov had an interesting comment about his preferences of places to play this season, as reported by this blog item in the Columbus Dispatch.

Boiled down, he ranked Columbus first, naturally, then the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL. Oh yeah, then the AHL. Which, of course, in this case would be the Syracuse Crunch.

I mean, look, this is no big deal right now. The marvelously talented might make the Blue Jackets at age 18, which would make the point moot. He has been in North America, like, 10 minutes, so how much does he know about the AHL?

But, nothing against the good folks in Sudbury, I can think of four reasons right off the top of my head why Syracuse should be the clear head-and-shoulders No. 2 choice for his hockey home this year.

1. Obviously, as a league of grown men, the AHL will give him much better competition than the OHL.

2. He will be getting paid.

3. He will start getting to know his fellow prospects in the organization.

4. As badly as Columbus always needs offense, he'll always be about a 5-game points streak away from a recall.

I asked Blue Jackets assistant GM Chris MacFarland about the organization's thoughts on Filatov if he doesn't make Columbus. He was, of course, non-committal.

"Where do we think he can develop better, get stronger?'' MacFarland asked rhetorically. "Obviously, he'll get a significant look in preseason.''

MacFarland touched on a couple of other topics:

- He said there is nothing new regarding the status of rookie forward Stefan Legein. Earlier this summer, Legein mysteriously told the Blue Jackets he needs to take a break from hockey. MacFarland said as far as he knows that still holds true, that Legein won't be around when the rookies report next week.

"I'm sure at some point, (GM Scott Howson) will reach out. We're giving him time and space, and hopefully he'll come to his own conclusion that the game is important to him,'' MacFarland said. "But we can't force him (to report).''

If Legein doesn't show up, he'll be suspended without pay.

- MacFarland also put a fairly emphatic kabash on the notion of popular enforcer Brandon Sugden signing an AHL deal with Syracuse, at least for now.

"Right now, there are no plans for Sugden to come to Syracuse,'' he said. "Jon (Mirasty) put in the time and effort to have that job. If it's something where toughness is an issue for us, we will address it during the season.''